Nursery World - The write stuff

This year's student essay competition asked students to outline how they would attract more men into childcare and early years education. We had a huge response with some innovative ideas - here are the winning entries Jerry Aldous

Jerry Aldous

1st prize - 1,000

Working with children in the early years - Open University

* When you tell someone you're a teacher, the first question is invariably, 'What do you teach?' It is fascinating to watch reactions when I talk about early years and explain that it is skills-based and not so much subject-based, that the curriculum (distinct, and quite separate from the National Curriculum) is broad, and that the development of personal and social skills are as important as anything else we promote.

We play. We play and make no apology for it, and as the spotlight on early years education shines brighter as a result of Government initiatives and the consequent increase in funding, it is at last being recognised that structured play is the best method to teach, since this is how children learn best.

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